A Backyard Barn Wedding: Emily + Brandon

I just love this beautiful backyard wedding – and a backyard with a gorgeous barn? Just perfect – and how lucky are they!? :) Emily + Brandon were married at Emily’s family home in central California. They are both laid back people and just wanted a simple, no fuss, country wedding. With lots of help from family + friends, they were able to pull of their dream wedding. Big congrats to Emily + Brandon! Thanks also to Ken Kienow for the lovely photos and be sure to check out their super sweet video by Cana Video Production.

Love the groomsmen in their plaid shirts!

Walking down the aisle and seeing each other, communion and our first dance. All of those moments, it felt completely like it was just the two of us.

Processional: “Penelope’s Theme” by Nathan Johnson from the soundtrack to The Brothers Bloom

Recessional: “Pearls on a String” by Ryan Adams

First Dance: “Lavender Morning" written by Zebedee Zaitz and played by our friends Ryan Delmore and Zebedee

All of the credit for how the day looked has to go to our vendors and our families. I showed Laurel, from Adornments, a few pictures I had torn out of magazines that showed the color schemes I was interested in and the flowers I liked. Laurel and Eileen from Adornments took care of everything from there. They knew the things that we liked and the no fuss, rustic theme we wanted and they made it look so incredibly beautiful. So much credit also has to go to my parents who slaved away for 11 months, planting and watering and weed whacking and all sorts of things to make the backyard and barn look the way they did. They are amazing. We had tons of help that day from friends and family, from the coffee to the cake to the food, and we are so grateful. What really made the day was being surrounded by the love and support of our family and friends who had worked so hard with us to get us to that moment.

Remember what the end goal is. It’s easy to get caught up in the planning and all the fine details, but the day is really about marrying the person that you love with all your heart. Everything else is secondary. So, amidst all the planning, make time for each other, go on dates, and enjoy being engaged. Also, quite a few former brides told me to really soak everything in the day of the wedding, and I’m so glad I took their advice. Really be present at your wedding. Listen to the words you are saying to each other in your vows, take in all the little details, and enjoy your family and friends (there is rarely a time you will ever have them all in one place again). Even if something goes wrong the day of your wedding, life is too short (and the day is too short) to worry about that. Your wedding is one of the sweetest moments in your life, so enjoy it to the fullest.

Comments

Oh wow,what a beautiful wedding! The bride looks absolutely stunning. And the photography is simply lovely! I’m itching to shoot a wedding like this, and today’s post has only made me want to do so more. Gorgeous!!

This looks like a super fun wedding. Really love the hay thrown at the getaway car. Never seen that before– clever! And the bridesmaid bouquets are so colorful and delightful. Again, another FAB GWS feature/wedding!

Email me when there are new comments on this post. You can also subscribe without commenting.

GWS is a creative and supportive community of wedding fans and vendors. As such, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain profanity, are distasteful, personally attack individuals or do not contribute to the goals of our community.

You may not love every detail of every event, but please remember that the couples who share their weddings on GWS are real people and their wedding is a special day, so please be nice.